A gear shift lever 1 with a damping device 4, which surrounds the gear shift lever 1 in the form of a rubber-elastic ring element 12, is shown by FIG. 6 in a diagrammatic perspective view, partially in section. In FIG. 6 a reverse gear blocking element 5 surrounds the gear shift lever 1 at a ring-shaped distance a. The reverse gear blocking element 5 has a ring-shaped shoulder 11 extending radially inwards. The gear lever 1 has a corresponding ring-shaped shoulder 10 extending radially outwards, which is configured such that the shoulders 10 and 11 meet each other on the returning of the reverse gear blocking element 5 into its blocking position. With this returning, however, a noise development can occur which is felt to be unpleasant when the shoulders 10 and 11 strike directly onto each other.
Therefore, in the prior art shown in FIG. 6, a damping device 4 in the form of a rubber-elastic ring element 12 surrounding the gear lever 1 is additionally provided between the shoulders 10 and 11. This flexible rubber-elastic ring element 12 is injected or vulcanized on a ring-shaped bead 18 of the gear shift lever 1. The shoulder 11 of the reverse gear blocking element 5 can therefore no longer strike directly onto the shoulder 10 of the axis-fixed gear shift lever on the axial return into the blocking position, as shown in FIG. 6.
A disadvantage of this damping device is that both the manufacture of the gear shift lever with the formation of the bead 18 and also the vulcanizing or injecting of a rubber-elastic ring element 12 onto this bead 18 is cost-intensive and requires additional manufacturing steps, especially since this rubber-elastic ring element 12 is not a standard component. If this rubber-elastic ring element 12 is replaced by a simple O-ring, it is found that the damping, during which the O-ring is merely squeezed, is not sufficient in order to reliably suppress the intrusive noise on the returning of the reverse gear blocking element 5 into the blocking position.
From U.S. Pat. No. 3,974,711 a gear shift lever arrangement is known, which makes possible a shifting into four forward gears and a reverse gear. For unblocking a reverse gear shift gate, a control button is provided in the vicinity of the knob of the gear shift lever for this gear shift lever arrangement. The control button is connected via a connecting cable with a reverse gear blocking element, so that the gear engagement into the reverse gear is only released on actuation of the control button. A disadvantage of this known gear shift lever arrangement is that a returning of the reverse gear blocking element into the initial state after decoupling of the reverse gear is not damped acoustically in any way, so that shifting noises occur which are felt to be intrusive in this known gear shift lever arrangement.
It is at least one object to overcome the disadvantages in the prior art and to create a gear shift lever with a damping device which is able to be produced at a favorable cost and efficiently damps the noise development on the returning of the reverse gear blocking element into its blocking position. In addition, other objects, desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent summary and detailed description, and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.